A van thief has been spared jail after a judge heard how he was forced into committing crimes by a gang of travellers.

Gary Steer was bullied into taking part in a series of crimes in Devon by the Somerset-based travellers who threatened to harm his family and held his pet dog as a hostage.

Steer stole a Parcelforce Transit from an industrial estate in Bideford and was caught driving away from a second raid on a tool hire company in Torbay in a second stolen van.

He ended up at the mercy of the travellers after losing his job as a binman in Plymouth, becoming homeless, and accepting an offer to live in the back of a truck.

Steer, aged 54, is now living at a Salvation Army hostel in Plymouth and working with addiction experts at the city's Harbour Centre to tackle drug and alcohol issues.

He was cleared of robbing the Parcelforce driver by a jury at Exeter Crown Court but had previously admitted the theft of the van from outside MJM Sports on the Clovelly Road trading estate in Bideford last November.

He denied threatening to stab the driver and told the jury he found the keys to the Transit in the ignition and drove off.

He was acquitted after the jury were played driver Andrew Martin's initial 999 call to the police in which he did not mention any threats and said he had not seen the man who drove off.

Steer, of Grenville Road, Plymouth, admitted theft and three counts of handling and was jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years with a six-month drug rehabilitation requirement by Judge Graham Cottle at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: "You fell on hard times and fell in with a group of travellers in Somerset, who I accept put you out to work on their behalf to commit crimes. You were living in the camp in pretty deprived conditions, by the sound of it.

"You are now showing signs that you really want to turn your life around and there are positive reports that you are motivated to address your drug problems."

Mr Gordon Richings, prosecuting, said Steer stole the Parcelforce van at Bideford last year but abandoned it nearby after being chased by the driver, who flagged down a colleague who was making deliveries on the same estate.

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Steer went on to handle a Citroen van stolen from Dorchester Road, Taunton, in January, which was fitted with plates from a car in Ilminster and used in a raid on the Speedy Tools shop in Torbay on January 7 this year.

A worker at a neighbouring business on the Trojan Industrial Estate took a picture of the van used in the raid and it was stopped on Haldon Hill half an hour later with Steer at the wheel.

Miss Francesca Whebell, defending, said Steer had a bad record in his youth but had stayed out of trouble for man years working Plymouth City Council until he was made redundant in 2015.